"Quips about Congress became a cottage industry among comedians: 'I never lack material for my humor column when Congress is in session,' Will Rogers said. The House and the Senate-the Senate of Webster, Clay and Calhoun, the Senate that had once been the 'Senate Supreme,' the preeminent entity of American government-had sunk in public estimation to a point at which it was little more than a joke." Part 1 Chapter 2, pg. 77.

"The Senate Office Building was, in January, 1949, a place of courtesy, of courtliness, of dignity, of restraint, of refinement and of uncompromising austerity and rigidity. Its corridors were corridors of power-of the Senate brand of power, cold and hard." Part 1 Chapter 3, pg. 89.

"'FDR-LBJ, FDR-LBJ-do you get it? What I want is for them to start thinking of me in terms of initials.' It was only presidents whom headline writers and the American public referred to...